The Mother's Manual of Children's DiseasesWest, Charles
Science
The Mother's Manual of Children's Diseases
West, Charles
Pediatrics -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
When the chronic stage arrives, in which the skin becomes dry and scaly,
then is the time for tonics, for iron, sometimes for cod-liver oil, and
for arsenic; of which latter remedy, however, the results are uncertain;
while in the acute stage, its influence is simply mischievous. Nothing
is more difficult, nor calls for more skill, or larger medical
experience, than the proper management of the various forms of chronic
eczema.
The question is sometimes asked whether it is safe to cure, or, as
people call it, to dry up these eruptions in teething children. There
can be no doubt but that it is very desirable to prevent their
occurrence as far as may be by the use of the precautionary measures
which I have explained. But when they have existed for some time, either
attended with profuse discharge, or causing great irritation by their
extent, there is no doubt but that care must be exercised in attempts at
their cure, that soothing measures such as I have advocated should be
chiefly employed, and that the sudden drying up of the discharge by a
too abundant use of dusting powders must be avoided. If, too, the
diminution of the rash were followed by a worsening of the child's
condition, by feverishness, by heaviness of the head, or any sign of
disturbance of the brain, the attempt to cure the rash must at once be
abandoned. At the same time I must add that such occurrences are very
rare, and that for one case where I have had to regret my success in
curing the rash, I have seen fifty in which I have been mortified by the
failure of my endeavour.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] The directions given by the distinguished chemist, Dr. Frankland, to
whom I am indebted for the suggestion, are as follows: 'One-third of a
pint of new milk is allowed to stand until the cream has settled; the
latter is removed, and to the blue milk thus obtained about a square
inch of rennet is to be added, and the milk vessel placed in warm
water.' (I may add that the artificial rennet sold by most chemists may
be substituted for the other.) 'In about five minutes the rennet, which
may again be repeatedly used, being removed, the whey is carefully
poured off, and immediately heated to boiling to prevent its becoming
sour. A further quantity of curd separates, and must be removed by
straining through calico. In one quarter of a pint of this hot whey is
to be dissolved three-eighths of an ounce of milk sugar, and this
solution, along with the cream removed from the one-third of a pint of
milk, must be added to half a pint of new milk. This will constitute the
food for an infant of from five to eight months old for twelve hours;
or, more correctly speaking, it will be one-half of the quantity
required for twenty-four hours. It is absolutely necessary that a fresh
quantity should be prepared every twelve hours; and it is scarcely
necessary to add that the strictest cleanliness in all the vessels used
is indispensable.'
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